[UPDATE: 11:05 AM EST: Adam Schefter is reporting that doctors are telling Jason Pierre-Paul he should not play again this season.]
Doctors have recommended to Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul that, due to his shoulder injury, he not play again this season.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 13, 2013
Jason Pierre-Paul revealed a sliver of good news on Thursday is what has been a disappointing season for the former All-Pro. The New York Giants' defensive end said he will not need surgery on his injured shoulder.
"I already got a second opinion on it and it doesn’t need surgery; it just needs rest," Pierre-Paul said. "It's getting better day-by-day. That's basically it."
Pierre-Paul has not practiced this week, and really hasn't practiced for three weeks now. It looks like Sunday's game vs. the Seattle Seahawks will mark the third straight week the shoulder keeps Pierre-Paul sidelined. Yet, he continues to insist he wants to play again this season.
"I'm never going to shut it down. If I could go, I'm going to go. There's no point in shutting it down. If I could help my team win football games, that's what I'm going to do," he said. "going on IR, that's shutting it down. If I feel like I could contribute to the team, I'm going to go out there."
Two seasons removed from a 16.5-sack All Pro 2011 season Pierre-Paul lost the entire offseason as he underwent back surgery, struggled through a year where we was never truly 100 percent physically even before injuring the shoulder, and has only two sacks in 11 games.
The 24-year-old remains the Giants' most talented defensive player. He is the one player on the roster who, at his best, can turn what is a statistically middle of the pack defense, into an upper echelon one.
Whether he plays again this season or not, it is apparent we won't see his best in 2013. All the Giants can do is hope that rest is the right prescription for his shoulder, that his health will allow him to go through a full offseason program and that the dominant version of JPP returns next season.
Whether we see him on the field at all the rest of this season, which seems increasingly unlikely, is at this point irrelevant.